【推荐1】I start   my workday early, parking myself in front of my home computer and often forgetting to get up for hours. But one thing I try to do every day is take a ten-minute walk around midday.

Walking at lunchtime is a smart thing to do, a new study finds. This doesn’t seem like news. After all, we’ve known forever that doing exercise is good for us. But as The New York Times points out, those fitness studies typically looked at the effects of exercise plans in the long run.   This new study looks at changes that happen more quickly, from one day to the next or even   from this hour to the next hour.

For the study, researchers gathered a group of mostly sedentary(久坐的) office workers in the UK. All were out of shape, but otherwise emotionally and physically healthy. Researchers asked them to take 30-minute lunchtime walks, three days a week for 10 weeks. The volunteers were also asked to install apps on their phones, so that the researchers could send the volunteers questions   after   they   walked.   Then   the   researchers   used   those   answers   to judge   how   the volunteers were feeling about life and work, and to measure their feelings about everything from stress and tension to motivation.

When the researchers   compared the volunteers’ answers   on the   afternoons when   they walked to those on the afternoons they didn’t walk, there was quite a difference. On the days when they had a lunchtime walk, the volunteers said they felt less stressed, more energetic and more relaxed versus(与……相对) on the days when they didn’t walk.

Unfortunately, the researchers said many of the volunteers didn’t believe they’d be able to continue walking once the study ended, mainly because they were expected to work through

their lunch breaks. It’s an understandable response, but a sad one.
1. How does the new study differ from other fitness studies?

A．It calls on people to have a walk after lunch.

B．It focuses on the short-term effects of walking.

C．It mainly pays attention to sedentary office workers.

D．It aims at studying the relationship between exercise and health.

2. Why were the volunteers required to install apps on their phones?

A．To record their time spent online.

B．To know how long they walked.

C．To prevent them from getting lost.

D．To respond to the researchers’ questions.

3. What is the finding of the new study?

A．Lunchtime walks can soon improve people’s mood.

B．Office workers usually have little time to go for a walk.

C．A sedentary lifestyle is linked to an increased risk of disease.

D．Walking brings more advantages to people than other exercise.

4. What can we infer about the volunteers from the last paragraph?

A．They will spend more time walking.

B．Some of them tend to be more outgoing.

C．Most of them will perform better at work.

D．They may stop lunchtime walks due to work pressure.

【推荐2】If you’re a fan of hummingbirds(蜂鸟), then you probably know that at night they lower their body temperatures greatly by dropping into an energy-saving state of inactivity called torpor(麻木). A new study finds that the birds have more than one level of torpor. “There have been a few signs that this ability to fine-tune thermoregulation(温度调节)is possible,” said the lead author Anusha Shankar.

Shankar and her colleagues used a special method to track the body temperatures of three hummingbird species in Arizona: the blue-throated mountaingem, Rivoli’s hummingbird, and the black-chinned hummingbird. They measured the temperatures emitted from the skin around the eyes of the birds and found that differences in heat generation at various stages are noticeable

The normal daytime body temperature of a hummingbird is more than 100 ℉, even in cold weather. During shallow torpor, their body temperature drops by about 20 ℉. In deep torpor, the bird keeps a body temperature 50 ℉ below its normal daytime temperature. If human body temperature were to drop mere 3 degrees from the standard 98.6 ℉, we’d be in a state of hypothermia(低体温症)and, unlike hummingbirds, we would need outside help to get warm again.

“In this study, we found that the smallest bird used deep torpor every night,” said Shankar. “The bigger birds sometimes use deep torpor and sometimes shallow torpor, and sometimes no torpor at all.”

Shallow torpor may have developed to balance energy saving with the cost of deep torpor. In deep torpor, a hummingbird is much more likely to be affected by disease because its immune system(免疫系统)shuts down. And what’s more, it would get inadequate sleep and be easily harmed by its enemies.

Torpor is not the same as sleep. Sleep uses much more energy and serves many important functions. Daily torpor also differs from hibernation(冬眠). Hibernating animals enter a low-energy state for weeks or months at a time, while hummingbirds can enter torpor every night. But the researchers say their studies were done under laboratory conditions, not the conditions a bird would encounter in the wild. They say more research is needed to understand thermoregulation in birds.

1. What does the new study show?

A．Hummingbirds’ torpor could be flexible.

B．Thermoregulation is common among birds.

C．Body temperature is vital to hummingbirds’ sleep.

D．Hummingbirds are sensitive to change in temperature.

2. What would happen to a hummingbird if its body temperature drops by 50 °F at night?

A．It would suffer a lot in winter.

B．It would be in a state of hibernation.

C．It would be in a state of hypothermia.

D．It would regain normal body temperature without help.

3. What does paragraph 5 tell us about the deep torpor of a hummingbird?

A．It may consume plenty of energy.

B．It ensures the bird gets enough sleep.

C．It does great harm to its immune system.

D．It can greatly threaten its welfare and safety.

4. Which of the following statements shows the researchers’ opinion?

A．Their research is far from complete.

B．Their research method is much too complex.

C．It is easy to understand thermoregulation in birds.

D．It is difficult to distinguish hibernation from daily torpor.

【推荐3】The St. Louis soldier, Todd Nicely joined the navy in 2007, and was severely injured—lost his arms and legs and his life was almost taken away while serving abroad in 2010.

“I didn’t want to put my guys through anything that I wouldn’t want to do, so a lot of the times I was in the front,” he told the news while remembering the incident that changed his life. Over the past decade, Nicely has learned to adjust to the world with amputated arms and legs, a way of life that recently became a bit easier thanks to the addition of a service dog.

CHAMP Assistance Dogs in St. Louis, Missouri, gifted Nicely with a service dog named Hugo this season. The non-profit’s task focuses on connecting service dogs to people with disabilities who need them. Hugo is trained to assist Nicely with his day-to-day tasks, small gestures that add up to significant changes for the man.

“Nearly 12 years later, Hugo is pam of the family. Having him here to pick things up that I drop is kind of a blessing. It makes my quality of life a lot better,” Nicely told KMOV News 4.

This improved quality of life is what CHAMP works hard to provide for soldiers and other individuals who benefit from the support of a service dog. “Hugo is making a difference in Todd’s life. It is a wonderful feeling for all of us, and we are on top of the world in seeing someone become more independent because a dog is there to help them,” Pam Budke, CHAMP Assistance Dogs’ director, shared with KMOV News 4.

Nicely hopes that Hugo helps other soldiers by showing them it’s important to seek assistance when you need help. “You are supposed to be this tough man. Now, all of a sudden, you’re asking for help. It’s like, ‘am I weak?’ ‘No’,” Nicely said. “It doesn’t make you weak. It actually makes you stronger to ask for help,” he added.

1. Which of the following can describe Todd Nicely best in army service?

A．Lucky.

B．Clever.

C．Considerate.

D．Well-educated.

2. What is the purpose of CHAMP Assistance Dogs?

A．To send homeless dogs to people.	B．To help people train service dogs.
C．To make the disabled adjust to the world.	D．To create a bond between the disabled and service dogs.

3. What does the underlined phrase “on top of the world” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A．Ashamed.

B．Astonished.

C．Delighted.

D．Embarrassed.

4. What can be inferred about the soldiers from the last paragraph?

A．They seldom ask for help.	B．They like being tough to others.
C．They love dogs more than anyone else.	D．They need to show their weakness sometimes.

【推荐1】The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Moungi G. Bawendi of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Louis E. Brus of Columbia University, and Alexei I. Ekimov of Nanocrystals Technology Inc. in New York for the discovery and development of quantum dots (量子点).

The three scientists each contributed to a fundamental discovery, according to officials from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards several of the prizes each year. The work they’ve done has already led to new technology in television screens and bio-imaging.

Reached by phone during a press conference early Wednesday morning, Bawendi offered a stream of reactions: “Shocked. Sleepy. Very unexpected. And very honored.”

In a rare event, the winners’ names were leaked to the Swedish media before the official announcement. But Bawendi said he’d been sound asleep, so he didn’t hear anything about it.

Quantum dots are particles (粒子) that are so incredibly small that their size actually starts to affect their properties. For example, blue quantum dots and red quantum dots can be made from the exact same material, with the only difference being the size of the particle itself. (The blue quantum dots are smaller than red ones.)

In fact, changing the size can alter (改变) many different properties beyond just color, which means that quantum dots could be useful for a variety of applications, including building better solar panels and perhaps even creating fuel by using sunlight.

The three scientists will share the prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor (close to$995,000) in equal parts. This is the third science-focused Nobel Prize to be awarded this week. On Tuesday, the physics prize was awarded to Anne L’ Huillier, Pierre Agostini and Ferenc Krausz. And on Monday, Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman won the prize in physiology or medicine.

Officials plan to announce the literature prize on Thursday, followed by the peace prize on Friday. The economics prize will be awarded on Monday.

1. How did Bawendi feel when receiving the call early Wednesday morning?

A．Angry.

B．Surprised.

C．Bored.

D．Sorry.

2. What causes the difference in color between blue quantum dots and red ones?

A．The size of the particles.	B．The difference in materials.
C．The change in shapes.	D．The variety of applications.

3. What does the underlined word “This” in paragraph 7 refer to?

A．The 2023 Nobel Prize in physics.	B．The 2023 Nobel Prize in medicine.
C．The 2023 Nobel Prize in literature.	D．The 2023 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

4. What is the text?

A．A short story.

B．A diary entry.

C．A news report.

D．A research article.

【推荐2】Wang Zhenyi (1768-1797)

Born at a time when girls were prevented from getting a formal education, Wang Zhenyi got encouraged from her father to read books including works on astronomy, mathematics, geography, medicine, as well as poetry. She conducted experiments at home, in one of which she used a round table as the Earth, a lamp as the Sun, and a mirror as the Moon to understand their motions and finally revealed the mystery of lunar eclipse (月食). Wang often expressed in her poetry inequalities in society and fought for the rights of women.

Jocelyn Burnell (1943-)

Jocelyn Burnell was born in Northen Ireland, whose father Philip was an architect. In 1965, Burnell began her graduate studies in physics at Cambridge University, building a telescope to look for radio signals from space. Later, she found signals from space and was the first to confirm the existence of neutron stars (中子星). In 1974, she missed out on the winning of a Nobel Prize for this discovery. But in 2018, she won a Breakthrough Prize for it.

Mercedes Richards (1955-2016)

Mercedes Richards grew up in the capital of Jamaica. At 11, she knew she wanted to be an astronomer, Her father, who was a police detective, taught her the skills of observation and inference, while her mother, an accountant, taught her the importance of precision, Richards studied astronomy at York University and the University of Toronto, and investigated binary star (双子星) systems to determine how gas flows between the paired stars to create enormous explosion of energy called novae (新星).

1. What is special about Wang Zhenyi?

A．She was well-educated by her family.

B．She made the first discovery of a new star.

C．She was faced with gender discrimination.

D．She was a female pioneer in the field of astronomy.

2. Who first discovered the existence of neutron stars?

A．Wang Zhenyi.

B．Jocelyn Burnell.

C．Philip Burnell.

D．Mercedes Richards.

3. Which column is the passage probably from?

A．Science News.	B．Her Story Files.
C．Tour of World.	D．Literature Appreciation.

【推荐3】Einstein’s $1.5 Million Tip to a Bellboy

In addition to being a scientist, a philosopher (哲学家), and somewhat of a funny guy, Albert Einstein was something even more admirable: a good tipper. We know this because a piece of paper the Nobel Prize winner gave a bellboy as a tip sold for more than $1.5 million at auction (拍卖).

   

As the story goes, Einstein was traveling to Japan to give a lecture series when he found out he’d been awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. News of the award spread quickly and Einstein, somewhat bothered by all of the attention, kept himself in his room at a hotel in Tokyo.

A bit embarrassed by all the publicity he was receiving, Einstein tried to write down his thoughts and feelings. Just then, a bellboy came to Einstein’s room to deliver a message. Not expecting him, Einstein didn’t have any small change to tip him, and instead gave the bellboy a pair of the writings he’d been working on. Aware that his fame in the world was rising, Einstein supposedly told the Japanese messenger the notes would turn out to be more valuable than a regular tip if he was lucky.

The two notes were both written in German and signed by Einstein himself. The first note offered the professor’s “theory for happiness” It read: “A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness (不安).” The second one simply said, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Tested or not, the theory does appear to be at least somewhat correct. According to a study of the connection between the life success and well-being of more than 275,000 people, happiness creates personal and professional success more often than success in those areas leads to happiness.

Even if his philosophical thoughts contain no scientific value, the notes do shine a little light on Einstein’s private thoughts. “What we’re doing here is painting the picture of Einstein — the man, the scientist, his effect on the world--through his writings,” said Roni Grosz, who is in charge of the world’s largest Einstein collection at Hebrew University.

Whether the bellboy was able to benefit from Einstein’s happiness theory is unclear, but the notes did eventually bring some joy to one of his relatives when they were sold — the second note brought in $250,000, while the first one that lists Einstein’s happiness theory sold for $1.56 million.

1. How did Einstein feel about the public attention brought by winning the Nobel Prize?

A．Confident.	B．Regretful.
C．Encouraged.	D．Troubled.

2. Why did Einstein give the bellboy the two notes as a tip?

A．He didn’t have small change with him at the time.

B．The bellboy was interested in his thoughts and feelings.

C．The bellboy delivered the message that he won the prize.

D．The notes would become more valuable than a regular tip.

3. From the passage we can know that________.

A．the second note sold for more money

B．Roni Grosz is painting a picture of Einstein

C．Einstein went to Japan to give some lectures

D．the two notes brought great wealth to the bellboy

4. Which of the following is most similar to Einstein’s “theory for happiness”?

A．People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.

B．The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.

C．Happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy.

D．Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.